[Adopted 12-29-2011 by Ord. No. 809]
This article shall be known and may be cited as the "Business
License Tax Ordinance."
As used in this article, unless the context indicates clearly
a different meaning, the following words and phrases shall have the
meanings set forth below:
Any activity carried on or exercised for gain or profit in
the City of Pottsville, including but not limited to the sale of merchandise
or other tangible personalty, the performance of services and the
rental of personalty and/or realty.
The twelve-month period beginning on the first day of January
and ending on the 31st day of December and each calendar year thereafter.
The City of Pottsville.
Any individual, partnership, limited partnership, association,
firm or corporation. Whenever used in any clause prescribing or imposing
a penalty, the term "person," as applied to associations, shall mean
the partners or members thereof and, as applied to corporations, the
officers thereof.
Any place indoors or outdoors where the general public or
a limited or selected number thereof may, upon payment of an established
price, attend or engage in any amusement, contest or recreation, including,
among other places, theaters, opera houses, motion-picture houses,
amusement parks, stadiums, arenas, baseball or football parks or fields,
skating rinks, circus or carnival tents or grounds, fairgrounds, bowling
alleys, billiard or pool rooms, nine- or ten-pin alleys, riding academies,
golf courses, bathing and swimming places, dance halls, tennis courts,
archery, rifle or shotgun ranges and other like places.
Any person who is a dealer or vendor of goods, wares and
merchandise who is not a wholesale dealer or vendor.
The person duly appointed by the Council of the City of Pottsville
to administer the within tax.
Any business that is conducted at one location for less than
60 consecutive days.
Any person who sells to dealers in, or vendors of, goods,
wares and merchandise and to no other persons.
For the business license year 2012 and annually thereafter,
the City shall issue a business license in the manner and for the
fees hereinafter set forth.
For the business license year 2012 and annually thereafter,
every person desiring to continue to engage in, or hereafter to begin
to engage in, business, including but not limited to the business
of wholesale or retail vendor or dealer in goods, wares and merchandise
and any person conducting a restaurant or other place where food,
drink or refreshments are sold or place of amusement, whether or not
the same is incidental to some other business or occupation, shall,
on or before the 31st day of January of each license year, procure
a business license upon the payment of a fee of $35, to be used for
general revenue purposes. Such license shall be conspicuously posted
at the place of business. A licensee maintaining more than one place
of business within the City shall post a single license at his principal
place of business in the City for payment of all locations. Such license
shall be valid only for the person to whom issued and shall not be
transferable or assignable to any other person. Any person who is
in default of payment of any tax, interest or penalty imposed hereunder
shall forfeit such license until said tax, interest or penalty is
paid in full.
A.Â
The person applying for the license shall at the time of filing pay the license amount as due thereon to the Tax Administrator. Within 30 days of commencing business in the City, every person shall forthwith register with the Tax Administrator and set forth his name, address, business address, tax identification number, the nature of the business activity in which he is engaged, and any other information required by the Tax Administrator. Such registration shall be made by the completion of an application furnished by the Tax Administrator and the payment of a registration fee to be established in § 201-4. If an individual or business entity conducts business under a fictitious name, such individual or entity shall apply for registration in both the true and fictitious names of the individual and entity and shall list the true name first on the application. Each separate individual or business entity shall apply for a separate registration.
B.Â
Each person in the City who leases property, products or services
used by a business, as defined in this article, shall file a form
with the City on or before January 15 of each tax year that sets forth
the names and present addresses of each of the lessees in the City
during both the preceding tax year and the current tax year. Any person
who owns or leases any facility or property used for the purpose of
conducting an itinerant business shall supply the Business Tax Administrator
with the name and address of every itinerant merchant or promoter
leasing or using such property or facility, together with such other
information as the Business Tax Administrator may request to establish
the nature of the goods or services to be displayed or sold, and the
duration of the show. Such information must be provided to the Business
Tax Administrator, in writing, 45 days prior to the opening of a show.
A.Â
It shall be the duty of the Tax Administrator to collect and receive
the licenses, fines, interest, and penalties imposed by this article.
It shall also be his duty to keep a record showing the amount received
by him from each person paying the license and the date of each receipt.
B.Â
The Tax Administrator is hereby charged with the administration and
enforcement of the provisions of this article and is hereby empowered
to prescribe, adopt, promulgate and enforce rules and regulations
relating to any matter pertaining to the administration and enforcement
of this article, including provisions for the reexamination and correction
of forms and payments alleged or found to be incorrect or as to which
an overpayment is claimed or found to have occurred. Any person aggrieved
by any decision of the Tax Administrator shall have the right to appeal
to a court or courts of competent jurisdiction as in other cases provided.
C.Â
The Tax Administrator is hereby authorized to compel the production
of books, papers and records and the attendance of all persons before
him, whether as parties or witnesses, whom he believes to have knowledge
of business activity.
D.Â
The Tax Administrator is hereby authorized to examine the books,
papers and records of any taxpayer or supposed taxpayer in order to
verify the accuracy of any payment made or, if no payment was made,
to ascertain the license due. Every such taxpayer, or supposed taxpayer,
is hereby directed and required to give to the Tax Administrator the
means, facilities and opportunity for such examinations and investigations
as are hereby authorized.
E.Â
The Tax Administrator is further authorized to delegate any of his
authority herein established or contained to other employees of the
City or to accountants, auditors or collectors retained by the City
for the purpose of assisting in the administration of this chapter
and the enforcement and collection of the license imposed hereunder
and of the auditing of the accounts of the taxpayers and persons licensed
hereunder.
F.Â
The Tax Administrator shall not receive any additional compensation
for acting as such under the provisions of this article, but all expenses
for the administration of this article, the enforcement and collection
of the license imposed hereunder and the auditing of accounts shall
be borne by the City.
Any information gained by the Tax Administrator or any other
officer, official, agent or employee of the City as a result of any
returns, investigations, hearings or verifications required or authorized
by this article shall be confidential, except in accordance with proper
judicial order or as otherwise provided by law, and divulgence of
any information so gained is hereby declared to be a violation of
this article, which may be punished by dismissal from office or employment.
Whoever fails to comply with the provisions of this article
or makes any false or untrue statement on his registration application
or who refuses to permit inspection of the books, records or accounts
of any business in his custody when the right to make such inspection
by the Tax Administrator is requested shall, upon conviction in any
court of competent jurisdiction, be sentenced to pay a fine of not
more than $600, plus costs of prosecution for each offense and, in
default of payment of said fine and costs, be imprisoned for a period
not exceeding 30 days for each offense. Where the taxpayer is a firm
or association, the fine or penalty may be imposed upon any of the
partners or members thereof and, in the case of corporations, upon
any of the officers thereof. Each day on which any person violates
this article shall be considered as a separate offense and shall be
punishable as such as hereinbefore provided.
A.Â
Nothing contained in this article shall be construed to empower the
City to levy and collect the taxes or licenses hereby imposed on any
person or any business or any portion of any business not within the
taxing power of the City under the Constitution of the United States
and the laws and Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
B.Â
If the license, or any portion thereof, imposed upon any person under
the provisions of this article shall be held by any court of competent
jurisdiction to be in violation of the Constitution of the United
States or of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the decision of the
court shall not affect or impair the right to impose the license or
taxes or the validity of the license or taxes so imposed upon other
persons as herein provided.
C.Â
If a final decision of a court of competent jurisdiction holds any
provision of this article, or the application of any provision to
any circumstances, to be illegal or unconstitutional, the other provisions
of this article, or the application of such provision to other circumstances,
shall remain in full force and effect. The intention of the Council
is that the provisions of this article shall be severable and that
this article would have been adopted if any such illegal or unconstitutional
provisions had not been included.
D.Â
The taxes assessed under this section shall be in addition to all
taxes levied and collected by the City, County or Commonwealth.
A.Â
The Tax Administrator is hereby authorized to accept payment under
protest of the amount of business license claimed by the City in any
case where the taxpayer disputes the validity or amount of the City's
claim for the license. If it is thereafter judicially determined by
a court of competent jurisdiction that the City has been overpaid,
the amount of the overpayment shall be refunded to the taxpayer. The
provisions of this section shall be applicable to cases in which the
facts are similar to those in a case litigated in a court of competent
jurisdiction.
B.Â
Claims for refunds of licenses erroneously withheld or paid may be
filed with the Tax Administrator. A claim for refund must be filed
within three years of the due date of the return or within one year
of payment, whichever is later, which allegedly was filed or paid
in error. A claim must be prepared in a manner to be designated by
the Tax Administrator and must be accompanied by a true copy of the
claimant's federal income tax return. The burden of proof of earning
is on the taxpayer and must be submitted to the satisfaction of the
Tax Administrator.
This article shall become effective January 1, 2012, and shall
remain in effect thereafter from year to year on a calendar basis.
